Introduction

Motorola unveiled its first book-style foldable, the Razr Fold back at CES, but it didn’t reveal all of the phone’s details.

Today, it did, and we got a chance to handle the pioneer in person. We got hold of both the Pantone Lily White and the Pantone Blackened Blue models in Barcelona.

The Razr Fold will launch in Europe, and then expand to North America “in the coming months”. You’ll get either 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, and 256GB/512GB/1TB of built-in storage. In terms of price, Motorola has said €2,000, which likely refers to the 512GB model.

The Razr Fold powers on the non-Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, which is a bit of an odd choice considering the price and that the Razr 60 Ultra used last year’s Elite chip.

Design and build quality

The Motorola Razr Fold is among the thickest and heftiest book-style foldables on the market. It weighs 243 grams, which is a lot compared to the Magic V6’s 224g (at its heaviest, there’s a 219g version too).

The Razr Fold is also only IP49 rated, which is behind the cutting edge these days – the Magic V6 is IP68/IP69 dust and water tight, while its predecessor was IP58/IP59 rated.

What the Moto does offer is style and feel. It has a nicely textured back on both models and the classic Motorola styling with a slightly elevated camera island and a curved glass front. We love it!

Despite its larger dimensions in comparison to its book-style-folding peers, the Motorola feels well-rounded and normal in the hands. Also, despite its curvy front, the sides are flattened out, which benefits handling.

The Razr Fold in the hand

The metal on the frame isn’t glossy, making it grippy and smudge-resistant.

There are the typical two-piece volume buttons, the capacitive fingerprint scanner that doubles as a power button, and the AI-slash-shortcut button in the top left.

Not the thinnest when folded

The Pantone Blackened Blue (terrible name, btw) has a more pronounced texture than the Lily White model. You’d be forgiven for mistaking the folded Razr Fold for a Motorola Signature.

The phone in Pantone Blackened Blue

The displays of the Motorola Razr Fold are technically excellent. The cover screen is a generous 6.6-inch 21:9 165Hz panel with a 2,520×1,080px resolution. This cover screen is a step closer to a conventional slab phone than the 6.52-inch unit on the Magic V6.

The inner display is also quite ample at 8.09 inches. It has a square-ish aspect ratio of 8:7.2 and a resolution of 2,484×2,232px. The folding panel is an LTPO unit with a 1-120Hz refresh rate.

Both displays are bright – 6,000 nits of peak local brightness for the cover screen, 6,200 nits for the inner one. Both are also 10-bit and support Dolby Vision.

The displays are nice

The screen size combination is among the best out there. The Galaxy Z Fold7 and Honor Magic V6 are both 6.5 inches on the outside and just below 8 inches on the inside. Only the Oppo Find N5 matches the Razr Fold for screen size. Bigger is better when foldables are concerned.

Handling the beastly Fold

A final note on the hardware front, the Motorola Razr Fold packs an impressive 6,000mAh battery with 80W wired and 50W wireless charging. The phone will be bundled with a 90W charger in some regions. The Honor Magic V6, which went live yesterday puts the Motorola Razr Fold to shame with its devilish 6,660mAh power pack, but the Razr Fold is still impressive against the likes of the Galaxy Z Fold7 and its 4,400mAh unit.

Cameras

Another key aspect of the Razr Fold is its camera system, which is identical to the one on the Motorola Signature. And if that phone’s performance is anything to go by, then we expect the Razr Fold to be a stellar mobile camera.

The Razr Fold has a triple 50MP camera system on the back. The main camera is a 1/1.28-inch Sony Lytia 828 sensor, the zoom has a half-inch Sony Lytia 600 sensor, and the ultrawide has a 1/2.76-inch unit. The lenses are 23mm f/1.6, 71mm, and 12mm f/2.0.

That means you get coverage from 0.5x all the way to 3x optically, and up to 6x digitally. Technically speaking, this camera system is a match for the best out there – the Magic V6 – and a step or two above the Galaxy Z Fold7.

Cameras

We’d love to give the Motorola Razr Fold a thorough camera test. Soon.